The New Zealand Ministry
by Ms D Longbottom
Summary: It has been a few months since the battle of Hogwarts and Kingsley Shacklebolt has just been named the official minister for magic. Kingsley receives a letter from New Zealand that changes everything...
1. Chapter 1

The New Zealand Ministry

Chapter one:

It was August of 1998; three months had passed since the legendary battle of Hogwarts. The school was still being rebuilt and was due to be ready for September 1st.

The Burrow was full to bursting with people due to several celebrations: Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were about to start their careers as aurors in training, Hermione Granger were preparing to return to Hogwarts along with Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood for their final year and Kingsley Shacklebolt had just been named permanent minister for magic.

"So Kingsley... What's your first thing you're going to do as minister?" Hermione asked as the Weasley's and co all sat at the kitchen table that had been magically stretched to fit everyone.

"Hermione! I love you and everything but please don't start preaching to Kingsley about elf rights, he's only just been made minister, there's plenty of time..." Ron began.

"I was only asking Ronald!"

"Okay okay let's not start a fight shall we? and just enjoy each other's company..." Harry piped up. Then returned to looking longingly at Ginny, who was seated opposite him.

The Weasley's all but Ron began to laugh hysterically at him.

"Ha ha my son it's bad enough you've charmed my wife stop attempting to charm my daughter!" Mr Weasley laughed patting Harry on the shoulder.

"It's not my fault Mr Weasley. They're both just so beautiful" He replied with a chuckle.

This comment too was greeted by laughter and caused Mrs Weasley to blush.

"Why thank you Harry dear but now it's time to eat! You're thin enough as it is!"

*****

Kingsley woke early the next morning for his first day as the official minister. He entered _his_ new office with a sense of pride, _he_ was now in control and _he would_ make changes.

He had appointed Percy Weasley as his new secretary last night. As expected, eager to please Kingsley, he had already left his mail on his desk. Kingsley sat himself and began to skim through his mail; most were congratulation cards from members of the public and the remainder of the order and some were notices about upcoming death eater court cases. One letter however caught his eye:

Mr K. Shacklebolt,

Minister for Magic, London.

From Ms

Kingsley opened the letter and began to read:

_Dear Mr Shacklebolt,___

_I suppose I should start by introducing myself... but I'm sure if I did you would be rather confused so I must bring something to your attention first. ___

_As I understand it you will not be aware that there is a ministry for magic functioning in New Zealand. I know this because it is I that constructed it. So that should explain why I introduce myself as the New Zealand mistress of magic.___

_Upon hearing your official appointment as minister I decided that maybe it would be worthwhile meeting and seeing if we can be of use to one another.___

_I have advised my staff to be ready for your arrival if you wish to meet. Please drop by anytime, the address is below.___

_Yours Sincerely___

_Ms ___

_New Zealand Mistress of Magic___

_38 Hindmarsh Road___

_Rangatira Park___

_Taupo_

_New Zealand_

Kingsley re-read the letter in astonishment. It was true he had certainly never heard of there being a separate ministry in New Zealand. He'd never heard that there were wizards or witches permanently living in New Zealand at all, he knew of many to travel there on holiday to get away from the hassles of the wizarding world but never for permanent living.

Kingsley called out to Percy and asked him to tell Gawain Robarbs, head of the auror office to come to his office as soon as possible.

*****

"I don't know Minister, seems a little fishy if you ask me. I wouldn't go by yourself that's for sure."

"Well then what do you suggest Gawain?" Kingsley huffed.

He was certainly interested in meeting this mystery woman. The ministry's best aurors had tested the letter with a number of different spells and it seemed legitimate. In his opinion there was no reason why he shouldn't go and at least investigate.

"I'll come with you. Potter and Weasley might as well come too."

"I want to go tomorrow." He replied confidently.

"Tomorrow! Minister, we'll have to organise a portkey and that could take days. We barely know anything about New Zealand, let alone this mysterious Ms Hope."


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHORS NOTE: **I am soooo sorry for the lack of update; I've focused on some of my other stories. But I am still writing this one! Remember to leave a review! Please and thank you!

**Chapter Two:**

"So let me get this straight... Kingsley wants us... to go with him... to New Zealand... Tomorrow..." Ron asked Gawain. After he explained about the minister's mystery letter.

"Exactly Weasley." He said rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"What on earth has possessed him to do that?" Harry asked confused.

"The minister received a letter. From someone calling herself , she claims to have created a ministry in New Zealand. Kingsley wants to go there and he wants us to go with him."

"Sounds cool to me." Harry replied shrugging.

"Mum's going to kill us though. Giving her less than a day of notice."

"So let me get this straight. You've been working at the ministry as trainee aurors for how long?" Mrs Weasley asked crossly.

"A week..." Ron replied quietly.

"And now you're expected to just take off to New Zealand. You have no idea where it is, what you'll be doing or how long you'll be gone but you think that's okay?! Your sister's birthday is in a matter of less than two weeks!"

"Mum we're not little kids anymore! We'll try to come back for Ginny's birthday we just don't know how long we'll be gone."

"Ronald Weasley! You are 18 years old, just because you are of age does not mean you can just pack up and go gallivanting across the globe!"

"They'll be with Gawain and Kingsley. They'll be fine don't you worry" Arthur Weasley said soothingly to his distressed wife.

"Oh I know they'll be fine Arthur Weasley because you're going with them!"

"I am?" He replied raising his eyebrows.

"He is?" Harry and Ron exclaimed.

"Oh yes. Either Arthur goes with you or you don't go at all"

"But mum..."

"Don't you 'but' me Ronald, my decision is final. Also... you're the one who's going to tell Hermione." And with that she stormed out the room.

"Bloody hell Harry, Hermione is going to bloody murder me."

"You come back to us you hear me Harry James Potter!" Mrs Weasley said pulling her adoptive son into a tight hug, after saying good bye to her son and husband.

"Don't worry I will" Harry laughed.

"Now now hate to rush you Harry but we'll be late for the muggle flying machine." Mr Weasley said excitedly.

Fortunately after being unable to set up a portkey for the group, Percy had organised for them to travel by aeroplane.

"It's called a plane Mr Weasley." Harry chuckled following the excited man through the terminal.

"We are never doing that again!" Ron groaned 24 hours later after being on the plane for over 22 hours.

"Well guess what we've got to do the same thing to get back home"

"You're alright potter. At least you can sleep on the bloody thing." Gawain Robards grumbled rubbing his back.

"So where exactly are we going?" Arthur yawned.

"We're currently in Auckland and we have to get here" Replied Kingsley pointing to a large blue circle in the centre of a map.

"Taupo" Harry said reading over his shoulder. "Apperate?" He asked the minister. Kingsley nodded.

"It's dark out so there's less chance of being spotted by muggles. However we do need to focus on where we're going. Do we all know the address?" Gawain asked the group. Everyone nodded. "Okay on the count of three...1, 2, 3!"

The group appeared outside what appeared to be a relatively small bungalow in quiet muggle neighbourhood.

"Doesn't look like the entrance to a ministry to me" Gawain said cautiously.

"Neither does a phone box" Harry retorted.

"Well I say we knock." Arthur added wearily.

"I'll do the honours. Stay close now." Kingsley replied approaching the door. He rapped his knuckles on the door sharply and an outside light flickered on.

"Welcome, we've been expecting you" The door was answered a girl who couldn't have been much older than 15 or 16. She had dirty blonde coloured hair and a lot of freckles across her nose. She smiled sweetly and gestured for them to come in. "This way. Ph..." The girl stopped mid sentence "Ms. Hope is waiting for you."

They followed the young girl along a corridor, there were doors on either side but she headed straight for the dead end. She knocked on the wall space three times and a door handle appeared. Much to Ron's surprise.

Behind the door was a huge room, with a high ceiling that reflected the sky outside, just like Hogwarts. There were also doors scattered around this room but the girl stood still.

"Ms. Hope will be with you shortly" She said quietly and retreated back from where they had come.

Kingsley took a moment to look around the room. It was empty of people but there were however a series of desks. It looked just like any office at the ministry, just the room was larger.

"Mr Shacklebolt, Welcome. Thank you for coming. Let me introduce myself; I am Ms. Hope, New Zealand mistress of magic."

Kingsley could not believe his eyes, before him stood another young woman, no older than 17. This however was not what surprised him most. What surprised him was the older woman who stood behind the girl and clearly he wasn't the only one. Arthur Weasley and Gawain Roberts had their mouths wide open.

"Lisa...?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hello Kingsley..." The woman spoke. Kingsley was so shell-shocked he still completely ignored the young girl who introduced herself as Ms Hope.

Kingsley couldn't believe his eyes, the last time he had seen this woman would have been 16-17 years ago. When she had been 21, she had aged certainly. But she was still as beautiful as he remembered her. The same long dark hair and blue eyes, the same slim figure. For all these years... she was supposed to be dead. She disappeared off the face of the earth when James and Lily died.

"Lisa Goodman... all these years... I thought you were dead" Arthur Weasley spoke up. "Wait until Molly hears about this, she'll be thrilled."

"Sorry Arthur. I had to. It was for me own safety and hers..." Lisa replied, gesturing to the young girl Ms. Hope.

"But why Lisa?" Kingsley asked stunned. She held up her palm.

"That is for another time, there is much to talk about I know. But right now we all need some sleep. Good night, I leave you in capable hands." She smiled at the young girl and departed the same way she came.

Kingsley took a good look at the young woman now. She was definitely no older than 17 that much was clear. She was tall and slim, had long wavy black hair and striking grey eyes. She wore a smart red shirt and faded blue jeans.

"I can see you're all tired. We can discuss in the morning. You rooms are right through there... The bathroom is at the end of the corridor." She pointed at the wall and a door appeared.

"Thank you" Kingsley said still in shock and led his group through the door. There were 2 rooms. One for himself, Gawain and Arthur and one for Ron and Harry. He noticed that Harry looked rather confused.

"It's just those eyes... I swear I've seen them before. I just can't figure out where." He replied puzzled.

"Ms. Hope is right about one thing. We need rest, we're all tired. We'll see what tomorrow has in store for us." Kingsley replied softly.

Each of the group went to bed and were soon asleep. All except Kingsley. His head was buzzing... she was alive. He cried tears of happiness; she had been so good to him back in the day. When he had still been at Hogwarts and desperate to join the order with Tonks.

Tonks... he thought sadly. There had been so much death. If only she and Remus had been alive to see this. That their old friend was still very much alive; just missing.

With that thought he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Kingsley woke to the smell of bacon. His mouth watered.

"Do you smell that minister?" Gawain asked getting out of bed.

"I do indeed. Wake Arthur, we have a big day ahead of us."

Kingsley followed his nose, it lead him back to the large room they had entered last night. Only now it wasn't empty, it was full of people wandering around; teenagers.

"Good morning Mr, Shacklebolt." It was the blonde haired girl from last night. "Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself last night, I'm CJ. Hungry?"

"Hello CJ. Umm... yes actually."

"Good... because Ph... Ms. Hope has cooked up a storm." She replied correcting herself as she had last night.

"Why do you do that? You go to say something then change it to Ms. Hope" Ron butted in appearing behind Kingsley with his father, Harry and Gawain close behind.

"It's a habit for me to call her by her first name. Sorry. We're supposed to call her Ms. Hope we'll we're here working." CJ blushed.

"What is her name?" Harry asked eagerly, poor lad was probably trying to figure out how he knew her.

"Phoenix... But you didn't hear that from me. The dining hall is through that door..." She took off without another word. Pointing in the direction of a door on the other side of the room. Now that it was day there were doors all around the room.

The group entered to find the dining room. There was a muggle microwave, coffee machine and a water jug on a side bench and multiple tables. A table had been set out for them. There was bacon, toast, eggs... any breakfast food you could think of.

"Morning gentleman." Ms. Hope appeared, putting another platter of toast of the table. "Dig in. We have much to discuss yes?"

They all took a seat and Ron was about to sink his teeth into some toast when Gawain stopped him.

"Wait Weasley. How do we know this food is safe?" He asked Ms Hope sceptically.

"I can assure you it is." She replied and seated herself. Helping herself to a selection of bacon and eggs. Gawain waved his wand over the food.

"Safe" He said and began to help himself.

Once the group had eaten their fill the talk started.

"So... You are?" Arthur asked.

"I thought I made myself clear last night? I'm Ms Hope. Mistress of magic for New Zealand" She replied with a smile.

"But you're like... 17" Ron said.

"16 actually. Yes I'm aware I'm young, but someone had to take on the responsibility. As you probably saw; there are a number of teenage wizards and witches here. Some those who fled the first war with their families, some orphaned from the first war, others muggleborn." She replied "I decided we needed order, so I formed this organisation about a year and a half ago. It was a lot of work but I think we are making steady progress"

"That would certainly of been a hard task young lady" Kingsley commented.

"It wasn't an easy task. But I had help, Goodman and some friends. You can never do anything alone."

"So how many are there?" Harry asked impressed.

"As a whole country? That's unknown; New Zealand is a tourist country to some extent. There are many visitors and immigrants. The population number fluctuates and finding people of magical ability is not simple. At the moment here we have approximately 50-70 young witches and wizards and about 20-30 adults. Some parents others those who fled during the war."

"Wow"

"Hmm. Precisely why I called you here minister. I have strategies for building a ministry from the ground up. Which no doubt you need after all this mess with Lord Voldemort. You have the... essentials I need. So I thought we could help each other." She explained. "You see, most of what these young people are learning is from Goodman or the other adults here. As well as text books of course. But there is only so much we can do. We don't have a wizarding education system as such but all attend Muggle School. And where are they to go on from here? Work here for me for the rest of their lives? I think not. We are too small a population. I want to help you Mr Shacklebolt. Help you build us... the wizarding world a better, brighter future." She continued "For now you can observe how things function here, but I think we can be of great use to one another, so... what do you say?" She said extending her hand for Kingsley to shake.

It was a lot to take in from a 16 year old girl, but Kingsley could see her good intentions. He paused, if only for a second and shook her hand. This would certainly be interesting...


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"So I guess I should start by giving you all security tags. While your presence was expected some of the people here will still be weary of you. Like Tank for example" Ms Hope said handing Kingsley and the others tags with their names and business on them.

"Who's Tank?" Ron asked pinning his tag to his shirt.

"Tank is one of the youths that work here. He's one of the youngest but smartest here. He's twelve, shy, quiet. He can be nervous about new people, likes to keep to himself mostly." She replied.

"How old is the youngest person here?" Harry asked curiously.

"That'd be Jordan he's eight. He's only been with us for a few months. He doesn't work of course. Just observes and learns. He's home schooled here. We can't risk him divulging anything to the muggles until he's old enough to understand."

"So how do you find all these kids then?" Gawain asked gruffly.

"Watching the newspapers for any suspicious behaviour, that could possibly have been caused by under aged magic. That and I have people posted all over the country. Like guardians I suppose. Keeping an eye out for any" she replied calmly. "It started when I found CJ, the girl you met last night. I caught her using magic to save the life of a muggle child. The child was going to walk into traffic. I watched her immobilise the child to stop him from walking into the street. I confronted her. Her older brother brought her here as an infant during the first war along with several other terrified escapees around the country. It's with their help we tried to find any others."

"Amazing" Kingsley breathed.

"Call it fate or coincidence. But here we are"

"Indeed. But we still don't know how you got here" Kingsley continued.

"That's for Goodman to tell. As you may have already figured out for yourself. She is my mother."

"That I am. So I guess this is where I start blabbing isn't it old friend?" Lisa Goodman said appearing behind them.

It was clear to see by her stiff posture that Lisa's daughter, the formidable Ms. Phoenix Hope was uncomfortable sat in her corner chair in the living room.

Kingsley, Gawain, Mr Weasley, Ron and Harry all squeezed onto the L shaped suite couch. Crowding eagerly around Lisa as she began her long tale.

"Well for Ron and Harry's benefit... Harry I was friends with your parents at Hogwarts as well as with Remus and Sirius. Your mother and I shared a dorm together and we were very good friends. As you can imagine we were all very much about fighting Voldemort and the death eater up rising. I chose to pursue a career in healing when I left Hogwarts, I wanted to help heal the wounds of war. I was always a strong believer in there's no point having soldiers and no one to care for them. So I was a member of the original order. However I didn't go on any of the missions, my role was to cure people when they returned." She sniffed loudly and played with her hands nervously. "At this point in time... I... Sirius... Sirius and I were seeing each other. We had dated on and off during our Hogwarts years but we sort of became an official item once we left school." She sniffed again and pulled a tissue from her pocket. "So that was how things worked for the first few years, then of course... your prophecy came to light and your parents had to go into hiding. Which was a very hard thing for us as well as them. Sirius adored your dad and I adored Lily very much. We were two of the few people who knew where your parents were. We used to visit you when you were little whenever we had the chance. I even delivered you in hiding so your mum wouldn't have to go into hospital"

Her tears were flowing down her cheeks now. She seemed tired and broken remembering her youth and her friends.

"As you know Peter was your parents secret keeper... and... um... when your parents passed away Sirius tracked him down and was arrested. You have to understand here that we were in the middle of a war... a war at that point in time we thought we were losing. We'd lost so many already without losing James and Lily. I was terrified. My friends were dead, my boyfriend had been arrested and at that point in time I didn't know if I was safe. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even know if Sirius was guilty or innocent. He was always away with missions and had to be so sneaky about it, for all I knew Sirius could of been a death eater. I was young, I was scared and I was alone... well not entirely alone..." She snuffled looking over at Phoenix.

Phoenix had curled herself up in her chair. Her eyes were watery but tears refused to drown her face. She held her head high.

"I was pregnant and scared. So I did the cowardly thing and fled... I came here and set myself up a new life. I didn't know who would be out to get me, the death eaters or even the other order members." Lisa finished.

"Sirius" Harry whispered. "Your eyes. They remind me of Sirius."

"My father was Sirius Black." Phoenix stated nodding. Tears refusing to fall.

"Oh Lisa if we'd known." Mr Weasley too was in tears and pulled her into a tight hug.

Harry approached Phoenix and looked her over. Analysing her.

"I see it now. You look similar in little ways. Your father was a good man. A very brave man"

"I know." She replied boldly. Standing and leaving the room suddenly.

Kingsley was stunned; he wasn't sure how to react. He hadn't known what to expect when he came to New Zealand but this was the last thing he had ever expected to discover. He sat silently watching the scene before him.

Arthur hugging Lisa tightly while she sobbed. Gawain rubbing her back offering his attempt at comfort. Ron stood at Harry's side watching the door that Phoenix had just left through. While he just sat there in stunned silence. He knew then at that moment that this was going to be an emotional and potentially challenging visit.


End file.
